Featured Story:African American museum opens website for passes. It took 4 minutes to sell out.

Like tickets to hot concert tour, free same-day passes to the National Museum of African American History and Culture were snapped up in minutes Monday morning, the day the museum moved its same-day distribution method from an in-person line to its web-based ticket system. Read More

SUDBURY, CANADA — Sudbury’s large projects are moving forward and city council should know early next year what will happen with at least one of them. An events centre, which could be built along The Kingsway in Minnow Lake, in the South End or downtown, is currently under the lens of Price Waterhouse Coopers.

INTERNATIONAL — Earlier this year I met Ngaire Blankenberg, European Director and Principal Consultant at Lord Cultural Resources; Co-Founder of the Museum of AIDS in Africa; Co-author of Cities, Museums and Soft Power and an all-round inspirational human with a voice which needs to be heard.

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican Museums, one of the world’s pre-eminent art collections, announced Tuesday that Barbara Jatta, an Italian art historian and longtime Vatican official, will become its new director, making her the first woman to hold one of the most prestigious jobs in the art world.

CALIFORNIA, USA — A small site on the outskirts of this college town near Sacramento, backed up against some train tracks and Interstate 80, is not where you might expect to find a building to boost your faith in the future of American architecture.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM — The 46-year-old Briton’s latest projects—whether London’s Garden Bridge, New York’s Pier 55, or Google’s new headquarters—are making him the most talked about designer in the world. Paul Goldberger explores how he’s pushed the limits of possibility, and created unconventional and controversial results in the process.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — Australia’s first public museum, the Australian Museum in Sydney will undergo extensive redevelopment as part of a $285-million project to increase the museum’s exhibition space and introduce new education and community facilities.

INTERNATIONAL — The top Instagram hashtag of 2016 was #love, and the most-used emoji was—you guessed it— <3. As the year grinds to an end, the Instagram PR team has sent us these factoids, plus a bunch more from all the data harvested from their massive user base.

NEW YORK, USA — There’s a particular paradox that comes with digital art. In theory, work that is composed from ones and zeroes should be endlessly archivable and infinitely copyable. But in practice, rapid-fire obsolescence cycles and almost impossibly vast amount of digital output means that even potentially important digital art is rarely saved or shown in anymeaningful way.

GHENT, BELGIUM — Layers and layers of paint have been virtually and physically removed from the 15th-century Ghent Altarpiece, a renowned work of biblical figures on wood panels, revealing for the first time in hundreds of years the individual brush strokes of the original paintings.

MOSCOW, RUSSIA — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, in a meeting with film directors and artists, vowed on Friday to protect artistic freedom in the country but also said a court was right to give one director a 20-year prison term.

MIAMA, USA — No one would dispute that Miami has put itself on the map of places that matter in the visual arts world, largely because of the 15-year-old fair Art Basel Miami Beach. But what happens when the circus leaves town? Much more than in the past.